1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aluminum-based alloy for use in a wide range of applications such as in aircraft, vehicles and ships, as well as, in the structural material for the engine portions thereof. In addition, the present invention may be employed as sash, roofing material and exterior material for use in construction, or as material for use in sea water equipment, nuclear reactors, and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
As prior art aluminum-based alloys, alloys incorporating various components such as Al--Cu, Al--Si, Al--Mg, Al--Cu--Si, Al--Cu--Mg, and Al--Zn--Mg are known. In all of the aforementioned, superior anti-corrosive properties are obtained at a light weight, and thus the aforementioned alloys are being widely used as structural material for machines in vehicles, ships and aircraft, in addition to being employed as sash, roofing material, exterior material for use in construction, structural material for use in LNG tanks, and the like.
However, the prior art aluminum-based alloys generally exhibit disadvantages such as a low hardness and poor heat resistance when compared to material incorporating Fe. In addition, although some materials have incorporated elements such as Cu, Mg and Zn for increased hardness, disadvantages remain such as low anti-corrosive properties.
On the other hand, recently, experiments are being conducted in which the compositions of aluminum-based alloys are being refined by means of performing quench solidification from a liquid-melt state resulting in the production of superior mechanical strength and anti-corrosive properties.
In Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. 1-275732, an aluminum-based alloy is disclosed which can be utilized as material with a high hardness, high strength, high electrical resistance, anti-abrasion properties, or as soldering material. In addition, the disclosed aluminum-based alloy has a superior heat resistance, and may undergo extruding or press processing by utilizing the superplastic phenomenon observed near liquid crystallization temperatures. This aluminum-based alloy comprises a composition AlM*X with a special composition ratio (wherein M* signifies an element such as V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zr and the like, and X represents a rare earth element such as La, Ce, Sm and Nd, or an element such as Y, Nb, Ta, Mm (misch metal) and the like), and has an amorphous or a combined amorphous/fine crystalline structure.
However, this aluminum-based alloy is disadvantageous in that high costs result from the incorporation of large amounts of expensive rare earth elements and/or metal elements with a high activity such as Y. In addition to the aforementioned use of expensive raw materials, problems also arise such as increased consumption and labor costs due to the large scale of the manufacturing facilities required to treat materials with high activities. Furthermore, the aforementioned aluminum-based alloy tends to display insufficient resistance to oxidation and corrosion.